The basic ingredients of Saturday’s Laptop Battle at Churchill’s Pub are, well, pretty basic. All that’s needed are an even number of computer-wielding contestants, an audience, and a few brave judges. Now, about the rules: Screw the rules. What do you think this is, American Idol? All right, so maybe…
Ghost repeaters are unmanned radio stations that broadcast narrow, prerecorded playlists — the AM radio equivalent of the record bins at Wal-Mart. Wisconsin-born, Massachusetts-based singer/songwriter Jeffrey Foucault has been waging war on bland Muzak all of his life, and this ironically titled set strikes another blow for genuine music made…
Between the ebb and flow of organic instrumentals and sporadic twinkling of programmed beats and synths, Munich’s Couch dissembles the commonly intolerable crescendoing moments of postrock. Figur 5’s opener (but surely a set closer), “Gegen Alles Bereit,” roars with multitracked guitar and packs its dense melancholia among hammered single-note-driven licks…
Walkmen frontman/lyricist Hamilton Leithauser does late-twentysomething/early-thirtysomething-in-midlife-crisis hand-wringing better than any other American working in indie rock today. That his band’s first two albums were titled Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone (in which he tried to convince himself his life didn’t suck) and Bows and Arrows (in which…
Don’t let those could-be Finnish song titles fool you. Anathallo hails from Michigan, its name draws reference from a Japanese folktale, and its debut, Floating World, bears little resemblance to any of the zillion CD-Rs recorded in recent years by Avarus or Avarus-associated concerns. This five-years-running septet fuses the reeling,…
Halou’s woozily animated shoegaze-electro draws its anti-gravitas from Ryan Coseboom’s found-noise-punctuated synths. They’re usually found bobbing lazily along like ice cubes in the imaginary Big Gulp martini held by his singer/wife Rebecca, a pipe-cleaner-hair goth whose dreamy soprano evokes a Not-It girl holding up the bar wall as she waits…
Immortalized by last year’s somewhat sensationalized biopic Walk the Line and revered by the grunge generation — the result of his final Rick Rubin-produced recordings (a posthumous Volume V is due soon) — Johnny Cash cast a resilient and defiant persona that affirmed his status as an Americana icon. Personal…
Chances of the much-adored shoegaze rockers of My Bloody Valentine reuniting are slim to none, so the five Norwegians in Serena Maneesh are a fine replacement. Their self-titled debut is a beautiful though cryptic experiment in murky drone-rock. Like Hades’ duplicitous grip coaxing you into his underworld, the album opens…
There’s a no-bullshit sensibility to behold on the Hacker’s A.N.D. N.O.W., which is probably fitting for a guy who, unlike many of his peers, never denied his place in electroclash. That sensibility is probably why he’s still around, and it’s definitely why this album is the DJ mix of the…
On their third album, the core members of I See Hawks in L.A. are joined by Chris Hillman (Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers), Rick Shea (Dave Alvin Band), and other heavies from L.A.’s alt-country gang, but it’s the songwriting of the principal bandmates that grabs your attention. Rob Waller, lead vocalist…
Having Thievery Corporation remix Sarah McLachlan is like dressing a piece of white bread with water. And if that doesn’t sound bland enough, imagine the D.C. down-tempo duo taking on Norah Jones. Both of these somnambulist scenarios play out on Versions, Thievery Corporation’s second retrospective remix album, and the best…
When I call this “trap music,” I’m not making a Young Jeezy reference. McKean’s reverberating American goth chordage and placidly telescoping vocals are the heavy shadows where the unseen horrors implied by his too-tranquil twilight scenario lurk, waiting to reveal themselves: “Come, lock the door/Nobody’s home/All the windows are closed/All…
Either adult-contemp songstress Nelly Furtado just wanted to shed her squeaky-clean image or she decided donning revealing frocks and accentuating her sex appeal would equate to bigger bank. Timbaland tags along to guest-rhyme on and produce this urban format rhythm ‘n’ ho extreme makeover. In the video Furtado grinds all…
Combine two of the most superstylish icons in urban music today with synthesizers and a Michael Jackson backdrop, and what do you get? Pure popcorn with possibly one of the summer’s biggest smashes for the grown and sexy. Pop your pastel Lacoste collars to that…
G.O.O.D. music meets the Terror Squad on this boom-bap heavy joint for Khaled’s DJ album. With John Legend presiding over the chorus, Kanye and Cons take you from the Camry to the Carrera with their award-winning flows. More shine for Miami on the national level. Listen…
Timba, the half-century-old outgrowth of Cuban-bred son, is a complex form of danceable salsa that has evolved almost entirely independently of other South American styles. Timba requires such a high level of musicianship that it is frequently lamented it might die out owing to the ban on musicians touring from…
What moves you? According to Scion, the answer is art workshops and DJ sets at a converted gallery space in South Beach. Hosted by Scion and Neverstop, What Moves You Miami is a three-week-long series of workshops and entertainment focused on teaching aspiring artists how to develop their art. The…
To kick off the summer properly, Coral Gables Congregational Church (CGCC) is pushing nightly bingo aside for bigger and better things. Beginning June 1, CGCC, through its Community Arts Program (CAP), will hold a series of jazz concerts every Thursday, including performances by the two-time Grammy-nominated jazz singer Karrin Allyson…
When piano store owners place curtains over their merchandise, it usually means bad news for musicians. However, with Coral Gables’ Piano Music Center, it just means the show is about to begin. “We curtain off areas so people don’t feel intimidated to shop,” says store owner Rick Malinowski. With the…
Rock en español is a fusion of alternative rock, pop, punk, and Latin music. And it’s a term that best defines Tango36 and its music. The group’s songs come across like a sick mix of Hoobastank, Sublime, and Dave Matthews Band — but in Spanish, sung by locally renowned crooner…
If it is true — as it undoubtedly must be — that legends are made, not born, then Joey Youngman is on his way to some truth. Producing at the ripe young age of eleven and spinning at fourteen years old, Youngman was on the make while his peers were…
The temperature will climb from a simmer to a boil at the inaugural Memorial Fest, a reggae concert that boasts so many topnotch performers it’s difficult to determine exactly who the headliner ought to be. The festival comes on a weekend that has become infamous for bringing dense crowds of…
